Wallpaper* April 2024: Global Interiors

Dear readers,

Welcome to our annual Global Interiors edition and the 300th issue of Wallpaper*. We are immensely proud to be celebrating our triple century, and this issue exemplifies our commitment to bring you the very best in contemporary design and bold new work.

Our interiors team have assembled a rich selection of emerging talent from around the world. We kick off our global tour with a surreal journey into the picturesque landscapes of Lanzarote, which provide a hyperreal backdrop for a compendium of graphic furniture pieces by both new and established names.

Other interiors that caught our eye this month include the Rockwell Group’s ‘cathedral of fried chicken’ in Manhattan, and Manuel Aires Mateus’ new concrete creation on the shores of the Mornington Peninsula. We travel to a contemporary country house set amid the rolling South Downs, visit a little-known treasure by John Lautner, the Pearlman Cabin in California’s San Jacinto Mountains, and delve into a house by Keiji Ashizawa in the Tokyo suburb of Aoyama.

We also present a diverse collection of stories, from the significant renaissance of modern African design visionary Jomo Tariku to artist and environmental activist Andrea Bowers’ new work for Ruinart and writer Jonathan Glancey’s visit to an iconic Italian church.

You can discover Design Holding CEO Daniel Lalonde’s vision for nine of the world’s best-known design brands, read about how Samuel Ross and Kohler came together to reinvent the commode, and visit the new headquarters of Studio Irvine, where Marialaura Irvine is carrying on the legacy of her late husband James Irvine, while also establishing a design agenda based on ‘a whispered dialogue’.

Our fashion team have curated their take on the quintessential trench coat, while we explore the making of Acne Studios’ first fragrance, open up Frank Gehry’s foray into handbags with Louis Vuitton, and learn how to make a move on the ultimate chess set.

And finally… it is with a heavy heart for the past, but much excitement for the future, that I sign off this, my final Editor’s Letter. It has been my great honour and privilege to work for Wallpaper* these last 16 years (having joined on issue W*101 in 2007), and I have so many wonderful memories.

Thank you to all of my colleagues, past and present, for their unceasing commitment to this enduring and endlessly creative brand; to the inspirational artists, designers and creatives who have graced these pages and brought such joy and beauty to the designed world; to the craftspeople, makers, brands and galleries who champion creativity and strive to make a difference; and lastly, thank you most of all to you, our wonderful readers, who make Wallpaper* so much more than just a brand. It’s a way of thinking and a way of being.

With love to you all.

Sarah Douglas
Editor-in-Chief